Before It All
by Sapphire Dragon18
Summary: Natsu didn't just magically teleport to Igneel the second he was born, and if he did...well that's just strange. The story of what happened to Natsu before Igneel, how Natsu met Igneel, and how Natsu joined Fairy Tail.


**For anyone who knows me from another archive entirely(crossing the border!), you know I should be updating my other stories. Except I'm not... During my four months of really slow updating, I watched the entire Fairy Tail anime... and became obsessed... Just like all you nice people! So there was one question that occasionally passed my mind while watching the series. What happened to Natsu before Lucy, before Fairy Tail, and before Igneel? "Yes, I was born and automatically went to Igneel through magical transport." Okay, no, that doesn't make sense. So, this it my take on it. I don't own Fairy Tail!**

* * *

A woman with pink hair and blue eyes looked down happily at her newborn son. She smiled. "What do we name him?" she asked her husband.

The man with blonde hair and onyx eyes shrugged. "I don't know."

She looked at the summer sky outside the window or her hospital room. "Natsu..." she muttered, mesmerized by the beauty of it. "Natsu." she repeated. "We should name him Natsu." she told her husband.

"But Hotaru, Natsu's a girls name!" her husband exclaimed.

"No, it's not!" Hotaru told her husband as she smiled down at her baby. "It's a boy's name too." she looked back up at Ryuu. "I'm naming him Natsu, and I don't care what you say!"

Ryuu grunted in annoyance and disagreement.

"Ryuu, stop being difficult." Hotaru told her husband. Ryuu left the hospital room, walking away from his wife and son.

Hotaru looked down at her son, sadly. "I'm sorry he's your father." she whispered, a single tear rolling down her cheek. She smiled at Natsu. "You'll be great someday. I just know it." Hotaru told him, choking up. "We'll get through this, you and I."

* * *

As Natsu grew up, he was a happy, loud, and hyperactive baby. Hotaru loved him, but the same couldn't be said for Ryuu. Ryuu didn't like that his baby was loud, he didn't like that his baby was hyper, and he most certainly didn't like that his baby was happy.

Hotaru grabbed her bag and turned to Ryuu as she opened the door. "I'm going to the market, Ryuu, can you please watch Natsu while I'm gone?" she asked.

Ryuu grunted in reply.

"Just feed him, okay?" Hotaru instructed as she left, closing the door behind her.

Ryuu stood up and walked over to Natsu. They lived in a small house in the woods, with no neighbors and the marketplace nearly a mile away. Ryuu walked up to his one year old son, who looked up at him with large eyes. His own onyx eyes. His own large, happy eyes, but they weren't hi. They belonged to his son. "Hi, Papa!" Natsu greeted childishly, waving from his spot on a small bed. Natsu started giggling.

Ryuu growled at his son. It made him angry; how his wife had named their son something he would call a girl. How the hair that grew from the top of Natsu's head was the most unmanly color ever, in his opinion. How Natsu was the reason they could not live in a bigger home because they had to pay for a third person's costs. How Natsu was always happy when Ryuu himself was not. How Natsu could laugh at such trivial things while Ryuu could not. It enraged Ryuu to no end. It made him hate his son.

Ryuu backhanded Natsu. "Quiet." he growled, glaring.

Natsu's happy smile turned into a frown with a quivering lip. He looked up at his father with big eyes. Not the usual happy ones, but ones filled with tears that quickly started to roll down Natsu's cheeks. Natsu lifted a hand up and held his now hurting cheek. Ryuu threw out the food he was supposed to feed his son, and Natsu cried quietly, going without food for the time until Hotaru came back.

Hotaru opened the door and brought the stuff inside.

Nastu had calmed down by then and was back to his ever-cheerful self. Hotaru set the stuff down and picked up Natsu. There was no trace that anything had happened, only the memories of Natsu and Ryuu.

* * *

Over the next four years, to the point in which Natsu was five, Ryuu became abusive. He hated that his son was always happy, and that he was always sad. Ryuu would hit Natsu, but never laid a finger on Hotaru.

Natsu clenched his fists as he was pushed onto the ground by his father. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't be depressed, happiness was the only thing he had left, but there wasn't much left of it. He laughed at Ryuu, standing up.

"That's it?" Natsu said, hiding the fact that he was in a lot of pain. Natsu laughed. "Why don't you beat up something more your size, or are you too weak to take on anything but a five year old?"

Ryuu smirked. He left the room and brought back Natsu's mother, holding her by the hair. "Like this?" he asked.

Natsu's eyes lit up with fear. "No..." he breathed. "Let her go!" he cried.

Ryuu pulled out a knife, and that's when Natsu started crying. "No... please!" he shouted. Ryuu neared her neck with the knife, grazed it, leaving a miniscule cut, and threw the knife to the side, the knife clattering across the wooden floor. Ryuu pushed Hotaru away, and picked his son up by the neck, forcing him up against the wall, high up so Natsu couldn't reach the ground with his feet. Natsu tried to pull his father's hands off his neck, but the attempt was futile.

"Let that be a lesson to you, kid." Ryuu said, before letting his son fall to the ground and walking off.

Natsu fell to the ground, and crawled over to his mother, worried about her. Hotaru put her arms around him, and cried. "Everything will be fine in the end." she assured Natsu, knowing it may have been a lie. Natsu clenched his fists angrily.

"We're leaving." Natsu said with a serious tone, hating to see his mother cry.

Hotaru shook her head. "Go, Natsu." Hotaru told him. "I'll be fine here. But you need to leave. Run into the woods, Natsu. You'll find someone there. Just run away. You need to keep on living. You aren't safe here." Hotaru looked Natsu in the eye, and smiled, even though there were tears rolling down her cheeks still. "When you're strong, you can come back for me."

Natsu nodded, hugging his mother goodbye before leaving the house, and running straight through the forest, letting tears run down his cheeks. Natsu didn't know how long ran before coming across a clearing, but he stopped, panting heavily. Exhausted, Natsu's eyes began to close, and after running so far with so many bruises and in so much pain, the little five year old fell forward, fainting. Unknown to Natsu, he had fainted right in front of the fire dragon, Igneel.

When Natsu woke up, he was in the same spot where he fell unconscious, only there was a dragon in front of him that he _did_ notice this time. He screamed, jumping up and holding a stick in front of him threateningly. "I'm not afraid to use this!" he shouted, his voice not matching his words.

Igneel lit the stick on fire with a tiny little spark, and Natsu dropped it, putting up his fists. "I'll fight you!" Natsu shouted. Igneel lifted a claw and pushed him over, but Natsu just got back up again. This happened multiple times, with several different sticks that kept increasing size, and being pushed over many times.

"You've got guts, kid." Igneel said.

Natsu dropped his biggest stick yet. "You can talk?!" he shouted in surprise.

Igneel ignored that. "Why are you alone?" Igneel asked.

Natsu frowned and looked at his feet."My father hits me a lot." he said, looked down at his bruised arms. "Mom told me to leave, so I wouldn't get hurt anymore. So I can keep on living." Natsu started to choke up and his tears started falling onto the ground, leaving little dark spots on the dry dirt. Natsu looked up determinedly at Igneel. "I'm going to get stronger. So I can go back and take Mom away from that place!" Natsu cried, fire in his eyes as tears ran down his cheeks.

Igneel noticed this fire in Natsu's eyes, and how can he just leave a five year old in the middle of the woods, alone, bruises, mentally scarred, and with no food, water, shelter, or knowledge of how to take care of himself? No, Igneel picked the boy up and put him in his back.

"Hold on." Igneel instructed.

Natsu looked at Igneel with wide eyes, no longer crying. "Where are you taking me?" Natsu asked worriedly, wiping his eyes.

"Somewhere away from here, where I can make you strong." Igneel said, before flying off, taking Natsu with him. Natsu smiled happily at Igneel.

"Thanks."

* * *

Five years later, Natsu was ten, and could eat fire, and use all kinds of dragon slayer magic. He was strong, but not strong enough. He wanted to go back to Mom when he knew what he was going to do with his life. When he wasn't relying on someone else to live.

Natsu woke up early that morning, and looked around for Igneel. Not seeing him, he went back to sleep, hoping when he woke up again it would be from Igneel shaking him. When Natsu woke up again, Igneel wasn't there. Igneel always told him to never leave the camp, no matter what, So Natsu waited. Natsu waited all day and all night, before he went out to look for Igneel. He ran in the way he smelled Igneel, until in the end, there was no trace of the scent anymore.

Natsu looked up at the sky, and there wasn't a trace of Igneel. Natsu held back tears. "Igneel!" he yelled up into the sky. "Why did he leave?" Natsu asked quietly, wiping his eyes. "Was I not strong enough?" Natsu fell to his knees, and a white scarf with a scale like pattern rode the wind to Natsu. Natsu grabbed it, and smelled Igneel's scent in it. Natsu heard a roar, and looked up, but nothing was there. No Igneel, no Mom, no one. Natsu clenched the scarf in his hands.

"I'll become stronger. For Mom, and for Igneel."

Natsu walked for weeks through the forest, looking for civilization. He ate what he could find, and hunting distracted him for the day, but at night he always thought about how the heat coming off Igneel was gone, and wondered if him mom was alright after so long.

After weeks, when Natsu finally found his way out of the woods, he was eager to get into it. He walked through, looking around the big city, looking up at all the taller people in the crowd warily. He was suspicious; it'd been a long time since he was in a place like this. He moved to the side of the street, where there were lots of shops. Merchants were tying to sell him things, but he had no idea what was going on. The ten year old hadn't seen anything like this since he was five, and he hardly remembered it.

"Wanna buy an apple, kid?" a man asked, holding out a red piece of fruit.

"Are you stupid?" another merchant asked. "Kids these days want sweets. Want some chocolate, son?" someone asked, holding out some chocolate. "Only thirty jewel!"

Natsu looked at both of them sternly. "I don't want to buy anything." he said, trying to walk away, only to be bothered by more people. Suddenly Natsu was pulled into an alley by an old man, who brought him out of the marketplace and onto the less busy roads.

"Who are you?" Natsu asked.

"Makarov, master of Fairy Tail." the old man introduced himself.

Natsu cocked his head like a confused puppy. "What's Fairy Tail?"

"It's a mage guild." Makarov explained. "If you're a mage, you can join, and go on missions with other mages, or by yourself if you want. But you have to be able to use magic before you join."

Natsu looked at Makarov excitedly. "I can use magic!" Natsu exclaimed. "Where is it?" he asked.

Makarov laughed. "Kid, you can't just automatically know how to use magic. You have to learn it fro-"

Natsu picked up a stick and jumped into a random house, coming out with the stick on fire. He ate it and turned to a nearby tree, running up to it.

"Karyū no Tekken!" Natsu shouted, punching the tree with a fist that was lit on fire. The tree lit on fire and Makarov blinked.

"What's you're name?" Makarov asked.

"Natsu." Natsu answered.

Makarov smiled. "Natsu, I can take you to Fairy Tail."

Natsu got his red guild mark, and met everyone, getting used to everything quickly. He asked around, but no one even thought dragons were still around these days. Well, until they saw Natsu using dragon slayer magic, that is.

* * *

Seventeen years later, after Tenrou Island, Natsu heard a rumor about a Salamander having gone to a town. To his shock, he realized it was the town just a mile from his old home. He had gone without Lucy because of this. He tried to get Happy to stay, but remembered they had to take a train. That killed that idea. He turned to Happy before they got on the train. "We need to get off once before we get to where we're going." Natsu told him.

"Where?" Happy asked. "Do they have fish?"

Natsu shrugged. "No idea."

They got on the train, and Natsu was motion sick for the two hours until they got off. Natsu walked straight through the city, ignoring the whispers about the color of his hair, and whether or not he was Natsu from twelve years ago, and of course why his cat was blue and had wings.

He walked the mile to his old house, and kicked down the door. He walked into what he vaguely remembered to be the kitchen, and looked straight at his parents. "Sorry I'm late." he said to his mom. Hotaru's eyes lit up with happiness, and she started quietly crying tears of happiness.

Happy flew into the room after Natsu. "Natsu! What are you doing?" he shouted.

Ryuu grabbed a nearby wooden spoon and stuck it into the lit fire, before waving it threateningly in front of Natsu. "Get out of my house." he growled. Hotaru looked horrified, and very concerned for Natsu's safety.

Happy and Natsu exchanged glances, before bursting out laughing. Ryuu got angry, and Hotaru noticed, getting even more worried.

Natsu pulled the wooden spoon out or Ryuu's hand, and ate the fire off the spoon. Ryuu looked horrified, and Hotaru looked very, very confused and shocked.

"Thanks for the meal." he said to Ryuu. "Well, I'm gonna take my mother and leave now." Natsu said, walking over and picking up his mother bridal style, and starting to walk away.

Ryuu tried to go after Hotaru only to be punched by Natsu. "That's for twelve years ago." Natsu growled, as he walked away from the now unconscious Ryuu. Natsu carried Hotaru into the city, before setting her down.

"I knew you'd come back." Hotaru said, hugging her son who was now taller than she was.

"You think I'd leave you there with that asshole?" Natsu asked, smiling and hugging her back.

Hotaru pulled back and glared at her son. "Language." she reminded him sternly. Happy started giggling at the sight of Natsu being scolded by his mother.

Natsu groaned. "Mom, you're embarrassing me in front of Happy..." he mumbled. Happy started giggling harder.

Hotaru looked at the blue cat, then back at Natsu. "Speaking of that," she began. "You have some explaining to do!" she exclaimed. "Why do you have a winged, blue cat with you, why can you eat fire, what happened over the last twelve years, how did you get that scar on your neck I do not remember you having when you were five—is that a tattoo?" she asked, fuming. "I try to get you to enjoy the rest of your life and you go off painting parts of your body red with some strange symbol permanently?"

Natsu laughed. "It's the Fairy Tail guild mark, Mom. Where have you been for your life?"

Hotaru glared at Natsu halfheartedly. "With your father." she said simply.

"That thing isn't my dad." Natsu growled.

Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "Then who is?" she asked.

"Igneel, a giant fire breathing dragon who taught me to use magic."

Hotaru blinked, and Natsu started to tell her everything. From how he met Igneel, to how Igneel left, to how he went to Fairy tail, to how he found Happy, and to how he found Lucy and all their adventures. By the time Natsu finished, they had to get back on the train, where Natsu tried to run away, only to be dragged back by Happy.

Hotaru raised an eyebrow. "Is there something I should know about you and trains?" she asked, as Natsu bought her a ticket to go with them. There was no way he was leaving Hotaru here. He would take her back to Fairy Tail if he had to, just buy her a house where she wouldn't be in so much danger or be able to fuss over him so much. Natsu turned a little green when she mentioned the form of transportation.

"No..." he lied, getting onto the train. Happy sat across from Natsu with Hotaru, making Hotaru curious as to why the cat is sitting with her, a complete stranger, instead of a person Happy's known since he hatched from an egg. She decided not to ask; hopefully she'd get her answer some point during the train ride.

She didn't expect to get her answer the second the train started moving.

"Natsu has severe motion sickness." Happy explained, pulling a fish out of nowhere. "There's really nothing we can do about it."

Hotaru laughed, and Natsu just laid there, dying.

_He went from that little pink haired boy abused by his father, to one of the strongest mages out there._ Hotaru thought. _Could a mother be more proud? _She turned to the window and looked at the sky, just as perfect as it was the day Natsu was born. _I thought about you every time I saw that sky._ Hotaru thought, looking over at Natsu. _Now I'm here, with you_.

**End**

* * *

**So this was one of my more serious fics, and I'm sort of surprised that my fingers typed that... Now since I know someone is going to ask "What's with looking out the window and deciding to name her kid Natsu?" well, Natsu means summer or something and apparently its a unisex name. Then Hotaru means fire or something and Ryuu means dragon... See the connection? And if I'm wrong about the parent names... that'll suck. Sorry for any typos that might be in here. I went over it twice, but I always miss _something_. So review, please, and try to be nice, I've never written anything about Fairy Tail before so if I don't get the character personalities exactly right don't be too mean about it just "Hey, work on _ a little more" or something like that. And please, no flames, all I'm gonna do is feed them to Natsu. Or you could save me the work and not give me them... so please, review!**


End file.
